Stewart Sukuma

He was born in Cuamba, to parents from Quelimane on March 25, 1963, and when he was one year old he went to Quelimane where he lived the most important part of his teenage years. In Érrégèlê drank the essence of being “machuabo”, characteristics that shaped his irreverent personality; a decisive factor for the Municipality of Quelimane to award him the title of Honorary Citizen in 2022.

He recorded and shared the stage with the biggest names in international music such as Lee Ritenour, Ivan Lins, Gilberto Gil, Luis Represas, João Gil, Paulo de Carvalho, Ana Moura, Hugh Masekela, Oliver Mtukudzi, Mark Knofler, Abdullah Ibrahim, Paulinho da Costa, Bonga and Lokua Kanza.

He performed in concert halls all over the world, being at the Lisbon’s Coliseu dos Recreios in 2014, the first Mozambican to perform his own show with a full room. The Ibirapueral Theatre, SESC Pinheiros in São Paulo, Brazil and Nolan were other emblematic spaces where it has performed as well as in large theaters in Northern Europe.

Stewart Sukuma combines traditional and contemporary Mozambican music with a revolutionary instrumentation creating an energetic, dancing and contagious sound, mixed with sweet but powerful melodies that carry a message of hope but at the same time revolutionary to new times in Africa and the world, The marriage between tradition and contemporary find here a perpetual relationship. This relationship has a unique complicity with poetry, where it also created strong foundations for its coexistence with poets and writers from the Lusophone world. He presented his first poetry book at the Lisbon Book Fair in August 2022 with the title “The Tailor and the Art of Sewing Love”

Alongside his musical career, he is host of TV programs linked to Tourism, Culture and Arts in Mozambique (RTP and STV) and social activist for humanitarian causes, having been the first Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF in Mozambique.

First Mozambican artist to participate actively in the civic process of citizenship in almost all elections representing the Technical Secretariat of Electoral Administration and human rights defender.

He joined Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, becoming the first Mozambican to enter this higher education institution and where he is a member of the African Evaluation Committee and Consultant to the African Scholars Program, which allowed Mozambican musicians to have access to this educational institution.

Awarded and distinguished at different moments of his career, he was awarded by the President of the Republic of Portugal, Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with the Official Degree of the Order of Merit of Infante D. Henrique, by the President of Mozambique with the Medal of Arts and Letters and by the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil with the Medal of the Paranaense Legion of Expeditionary, recognition of the musician’s contribution to the dissemination of cultural values in the world. Other titles and decorations: For the administration of Marracuene and the Municipality of Quelimane, a tribute for his 40 years of career.

The artist is one of the most awarded Mozambican musicians in Ngoma, the largest festival of the popular song of Mozambique, winning in the categories of Most Popular Music (3), Best Song (1) Press Prize (1) and Career Award. In 1997 Billboard Music Magazine ranked him among the best in Africa, pairing with Papa Wemba and other great African artists.